Stories from Quick Reads and Uruguay
Bolivia to Host First International Community Radio and Free Software Conference
The first international conference on community radio and free software will be held in Cochabama, Bolivia from June 11-13, 2015. So far, the community radio stations from Spanish-speaking countries that have confirmed their assistance are: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and of course, the host, Bolivia. The preliminary agenda...
Spain and Latin America Celebrate Open Data Day
One again, bloggers, hackers, designers, experts, as well as citizens interested in open data and transparency will meet to celebrate International Open Data Day 2015 all over the world to promote the opening of government data. The event is expected to have online meetings but also in-person activities all over...
Bicycling 2,930 Kilometers for a Selfie With Uruguay's President José Mujica
After bicycling for 35 days accompanied only by his bike, 28-year old Brazilian Carlos Eduardo Lemos de Oliveira achieved his goal: he took a selfie with Uruguay's President José Mujica. Brasileiro tira ‘selfie’ com Mujica após pedalar cerca de 3 mil km até Uruguai http://t.co/FsaNyGNAmK #G1 pic.twitter.com/Fla6rfqc3f — G1 – Mundo...
Uruguayans Will Elect Their President in a Runoff
According to a preliminary exit poll after the election in Uruguay, leftist Broad Front candidate Tabaré Vásquez received between 44 and 46 percent of the votes, while Luis Lacalle Pou from the National Party has between 31 and 34 percent. Uruguay's local media shared very similar data from three pollsters, Factum, Equipos and Cifra. Twitter...
Italian Footballer Giorgio Chiellini's Praiseworthy Words After Being Bitten
Italian centre back Giorgio Chiellini, bitten by Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez during the match between Italy and Uruguay national teams of the group phase of the World Cup in Brazil, sent Suárez a conciliatory message via his official website: Dentro di me ora non ci sono sentimenti di gioia, di...
Trinidad & Tobago: Give Suarez a Menu
It is irrefutable now. Uruguay and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez either needs a psychologist or a new dietician. Thank heavens Uruguay was not playing Chile. Wired868 sinks its teeth into a post about the behaviour of the Uruguayan footballer after he bit an opposing player in his team's World Cup...
What File Sharing Communities Can Teach Us
On Ártica Online, Jorge Gemetto blogs [es] about file sharing communities and what we can learn from them: A common feature of many of these communities is that they are organized around cultural needs [es]. Preservation, access, dissemination, and distribution at reasonable prices are tasks that the market does not always carry...
Uruguay Becomes First Country to Legalize Marijuana Market
Uruguay's Senate voted 16 to 13 to legalize the production and sale of marijuana. President Mujica is expected to sign the law, which would become effective starting next year. Estoy a favor de legalizar la Marihuana pero estaria bueno ser noticia en el mundo por nuestra Seguridad y Educacion —...
16 Books on Latin American Street Art
In Latin America, street art is of major cultural relevance. The region’s traditions of social movements and revolution have allowed the form to give voice to otherwise unheard sectors of the population. Of course, not all street art is politically or socially-oriented in content, but it does often provide insight...
Declaration on the Future of Internet Cooperation
Representatives of the organizations that manage the technical infrastructure of the Internet meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, have released a Declaration on the future of Internet cooperation [es], in which they analyze the problems currently affecting the future of the Internet. Among other things, they mention the importance of globally consistent...
Praise and Criticism for Uruguay's Proposed Media Law
The bill, which has received the praise of several journalism and freedom of expression organizations, is not as controversial as the one recently approved in Ecuador or as contentious as the one currently in the hands of Argentina’s Supreme Court. However, it is not without its critics. While it has been lauded for its intention to set...
ABRE LATAM: Open Data Unconference
Fernando Briano from Picando Código informs [es] about the upcoming unconference ABRE LATAM [es], organized by D.A.T.A. [es] and Ciudadano Inteligente [es], on June 24 and 25 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The event hopes to “bring together representatives of different sectors of Latin American civil society who work with Open Data...
#FLISOL 2013: Hundreds of Latin Americans Installing Free Software
From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the...
Developing Latin America: A Summary
Desarrollando América Latina (Developing Latin America) has published a video summary of the regional hackathon DAL 2012, where 400 participants and 70 social experts developed 80 applications. Here [es] you can see Global Voices’ coverage of the event.
Uruguay Moves Towards Marriage Equality
On April 2, 2013, the Uruguayan Senate voted 23 to 8 to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill also raises the minimum age for marriage to 16. The bill will now go back to the lower house, which is set to vote on the Senate's amendments this month. El Telégrafo shares...
“Palestine in the Heart” of a Uruguayan Activist
Uruguayan activist and journalist María Landi shares her reports on Palestine in her blog Palestina en el corazón [es] (Palestine in the heart). Radio Mundo Real [es] recently interviewed Landi on current events in Palestine.
Uruguay Has South America's Fastest Net
Not that long ago, I'd never thought I could report this, but here we are. According to Netindex, Uruguay is the country with the fastest average speed in Latin America, with 9,53Mbps, and that places us 57 at a global level, over Chile (58), Mexico (71) and Brazil (75). The...
Reasons to Celebrate the New Year
Uruguayan blogger Anna Donner Rybak lists many reasons [es] for celebrating the arrival of a new year, even though many can find it “ridiculous”: Many people say they are fed up with these times of Santa Clauses, of people that are happy, many say say many things. It might be...
Ibero-America: Free Software Assessment Report 2012
The recently released Free Software Assessment Report 2012 shows the opinion, assessment and preferences of more than 5,000 people from Spain and Latin America. The study published in its fourth edition is promoted by PortalProgramas and supported by a number of experts and collaborators [es]. The report aims to contribute...
Blogging Contest Focuses on Child Development
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced its first contest for bloggers, which will focus on issues related to child development.
Uruguayan Netizens in Numbers
Gabriel Budiño from the blog DTodo1Poco [es] summarizes some of the key findings in the ninth edition of an investigation [es] entitled ‘Profile of the Uruguayan Netizen.’ Facebook users [in Uruguay] now number more than 1.2 million, 140,000 Uruguayans have a Twitter account and 150,000 publish in blogs.
